C.J. Mosley keeping his goals for 2018 NFL season front and center

Baltimore inside linebacker C.J. Mosley will start his fifth NFL season on Sunday when the Ravens play the Buffalo Bills. If the former Alabama All-American accomplishes all his goals for the 2018 season, it won't end until Feb. 3, with him hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after the Ravens win Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

When it comes to setting goals, Mosley doesn't cut any corners.

Posted in his locker are the things that Mosley wants to get done this season -- lead the NFL in tackles, lead the league's linebackers in interceptions, make first-team All-Pro, earn another Pro Bowl invitation, win the NFL Defensive MVP Award and receive the Super Bowl LIII MVP Trophy.

"My goals going into this year, I've got them right here -- leading the league in tackles, leading in interceptions, Pro Bowl, all those type things," Mosley told reporters while standing in front of his locker this week. "But that comes with preparation and getting in the playbook and having great game plans. But at the end of the day, I feel like I've been at that caliber since I got in the league, so I've just got to keep doing what I've been doing and everything will work out."

Mosley also has the goals listed on his phone.

"I've always had my goals before, but as far as putting them up so I can see them is sort of a new step for me," Mosley said. "Just something to look at every day. When I'm kind of tired, it'll just be a little motivation to keep going, to keep pushing."

Mosley said he got the idea to make his goals more visible from Ravens defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale.

"We got together when we first got here at OTAs, and he talked about defensive goals and personal goals and wanting to be a great defense, what's going to put us over the edge different from all the other defenses," Mosley said. "That's one of the things he said -- write down your goals, put them up in your locker, at home, somewhere where you see them all the time. So just, like, in our defensive room, we've got all our goals that we want to do."

Martindale is starting his first season as Baltimore's defensive coordinator.

"Where did I get it from? It was probably Lou Holtz," Martindale said of the idea. "I know for a fact it was Lou Holtz. He talked about way back when - when he was at William and Mary, and there were more Marys than Williams - when he was there, about the goals he listed down, and he looked at them every day. I did the same thing as a coach. Every time I've been in a situation like this, I've always urged players to do it because you would be amazed if you put down your goals, what they are, and go back and look at them. If you see them every day, you'll start checking them off. I just think that's a mindset of what you want to do and how you want to attack each season, and really how you want to attack life."

Mosley earned the state's Class 6A Lineman of the Year Award in 2009 at Theodore High School. He became a two-time consensus All-American and won the 2013 Butkus Award as the nation's best linebacker at Alabama, where he played for the BCS national-championship teams for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. In three of his four NFL seasons, he's earned Pro Bowl invitations.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.